Monday, August 08, 2016

NASA TV to Air US Spacewalk, Briefing on Installation of Space Station Docking Port

NASA TV to Air US Spacewalk, Briefing on Installation of Space Station Docking Port

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Television will bring to viewers around the world live coverage Friday, Aug. 19, as two NASA astronauts install a new gateway for American commercial crew spacecraft at the International Space Station -- a significant milestone in NASA's work to return crew launches to U.S. soil.

Coverage of the spacewalk will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT Aug. 19, on NASA TV and the agency's website, with the spacewalk scheduled to begin at 8:05 a.m.

Leading up to the spacewalk, NASA TV will air a briefing from the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston at 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15, during which station and commercial crew experts will discuss the process and significance of installing and connecting the first of two international docking adapters (IDAs) that will be used for the future arrivals of Boeing and SpaceX commercial crew spacecraft.

The adapter was launched on a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft and arrived at the station July 20. Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA will conduct the spacewalk to install the equipment. This will be the fourth spacewalk in Williams' career, the first for Rubins, and the 194th for the space station.

The two astronauts will venture outside the space station's Quest airlock to install the first IDA onto Pressurized Mating Adapter-2, located on the forward end of the Harmony module. On Wednesday, Aug. 17, ground controllers will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm, and its attached "Dextre" Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, to extract the IDA from the trunk of Dragon, and position it just inches away from PMA-2. There will be no live coverage of the trunk removal and IDA positioning.

Commercial crew flights from Florida's Space Coast to the International Space Station will restore America's human spaceflight launch capability and increase the time U.S. crews can dedicate to scientific research, which is helping prepare astronauts for deep space missions, including the journey to Mars.

NASA TV's Public Channel (NTV-1) will broadcast enhanced coverage of the spacewalk including operational commentary, in-studio experts and features, and its Media Channel (NTV-3) will broadcast a clean feed of video from space station with operational commentary.

Check out the full NASA TV schedule, video streaming and satellite information at: